Autumn Arboreal Awards: The Best-Dressed Trees in Fall

It’s that time of year again: the air is getting cooler, kids are picking out their Halloween costumes, and pumpkin spice has taken over from here to Seattle to Savannah. Just around the corner is the year’s best fireworks show: the changing of the leaves.

In response to cooler nights and crisper days, fall leaves begin to lose their chlorophyll – the compound that makes them green – leaving them bright, beautiful shades of orange and yellow. In some cases, red anthocyanin pigments also form.

The takeaway is that nature’s chemistry gives our eyes a treat. Now the question becomes: which trees are the best, and which should you consider for your own yard? Here are five of the top choices for fall color.

Black Tupelo

The black tupelo is the answer to your desire to see all of the fall colors on one tree. Its leaves turn stunning variegated shades of red, orange, yellow, purple and scarlet, all on one branch – and sometimes in one leaf!

Sugar Maple

Not only does this blessed tree give us the world’s best pancake topping, it’s also a show-stopping autumn beauty. In the earliest days of fall, it fades from green to yellow, then to orange, and then to fiery red before dropping its leaves altogether.

Aspen

If you love yellow, aspen is here for you. Unlike some other trees, which display mottled leaves of various shades, the aspen is devoted to one color: yellow, yellow, and more yellow. Group these trees together for an extra-special color statement.

Baldcypress

Typically, you don’t think of conifers as having fall color, because they’re not deciduous. The bald cypress, though, is an exception, losing its needles every fall in a brilliant orange show.

Sweetgum

The sweetgum is notable not only for its lovely combination of yellow, red and purple leaves but for the fact that those leaves hang on for quite a while after other species go dormant.

Call Premier Tree Solutions if you’re ready to get a little of that fall color into your life and need help with cleaning up your property for fall. We are a tree care and removal business, based in Atlanta, and provide a variety of services, from trimming and pruning to storm cleanup, branch clearing, and stump removal. Keep your landscape and your trees healthy and happy by calling Premier Tree Solutions today!

The Callery pear, or Pyrus calleryana, is native to the Far East. It has a lovely shape and is a visually interesting plant year round. In fall, it turns gorgeous shades of fiery orange, red, and purple. In summer, it is covered in lacy green leaves, and in winter its bare branches outline a nice, round, even crown. In spring, white blossoms cover it from head to toe.

Only problem? El Stencho.

The scent of the Callery pear has been compared to chlorine, locker rooms, bleach water, and worse. It wouldn’t be gentlemanly for us to discuss some of the other comparisons but trust us: it’s bad. Of course, if you have a Callery pear in your yard, you don’t need anyone to tell you that: you’ve already experienced it in spring.

The Limb-Dropping Leviathan

Another downside of the Callery pear is how quickly it grows. This is one of the main reasons it is often used as a landscape tree because it fills in quickly, but it creates dangers as well. Plants that grow quickly don’t have time to develop strong crotches, and tend to drop limbs due to wind, snow, and ice. They’re also fairly invasive and compete with native trees up and down the east coast.

Good Riddance to Putrid Plants

Ready to get rid of that Callery pear for good? We can help. Premier Tree Solutions is a growing tree removal business in Atlanta. In addition to storm cleanup, branch clearing, trimming and pruning, we can also get that pesky tree out of your yard once and for all. If you’re tired of the stench of old bleachers and pool water, give us a call and we’ll take care of it.

If you don’t mind putting up with the smell and other downsides in exchange for what is definitely a beautiful tree, that’s just fine. Give us a call for trimming and pruning instead. That way, you can keep the plant in check before its insane growth rate can endanger your property or family. Either way, we can help!

Get to know Georgia’s beautiful array of trees and how you can take care of your own! Each month, we feature some of the most popular trees in the state. For October, we are showcasing the White Ash. The White Ash is a large, deciduous tree with medium to coarse texture and medium growth rate. It can also grow to 50 and 80 feet tall. Learn more information below!